The Best Pubs in Sacramento

Boxing Donkey Irish Pub

★★★★☆ 3.8 (424) • $$

"I've had this on my list of places to try for a while now but never made it out until today. The wife and I couldn't think of what to eat and we're watching The Best Food Review Show on that bastard Sonny was doing a fish and chips special.That made me remember about this place's Fish and Chips as it has been suggested multiple times on local community forums.I was expecting a complete shit show coming in on a Friday night at 6:30, but it was mostly empty.We sat at the bar and we're promptly served.Service in general was pretty quick but upon ordering the fish and chips we were warned of a 45 minute wait as the fryer was backed up....Considering the bar was more than half empty that's a bit concerning as most everything on the menu is fried or has a fried component....I couldn't even imagine if the place was packed.Either way though, I don't think we waited the full 45 minutes before the food came out and I have to say, it's easily the best fish and chips I've had in a VERY long time.The fish was nice and crunchy, thick, flaky, and moist.I don't know if the tartar sauce is house made but that shit was amazing.The fries were also very good. Not your normal fry....fresh cut, not frozen, well seasoned, but not shitty like In-N-Out fries. My only small gripe is it is a bit pricey by a few bucks on most of the food items, but all in all a pleasant experience."

Oak Park Brewing

★★★★☆ 4.3 (322) • $$

"I stopped here because I had not been to this Brewery before. The beer itself is quite nice. I had the Lazy Hazy, and it had a very Lush taste on the palate. If you're not a fan of hazy, I would definitely say not to get this one.When I go to a brewery I always keep an open mind when it comes to the food that is served and with the hatch chili burger it was okay the flavors were fighting each other especially with the Pickled jalapeno. The Hatch Chili the roasted lost some of its flavor because it was trying to combat not only the jalapeno but the aioli sauce on the burger. I think a little bit of salt would have been great to harmonize the flavors.The most amazing piece of this though is the servers behind the bar they have great energy are very quick about getting an order and make you feel at home at this establishment.I will definitely be coming back to try out the other beers as the one 22 oz I got made me a little happy ;-)"

Pete's Restaurant & Brewhouse

★★★★☆ 3.6 (447) • $$

"Shelby takes wonderful care of us. The coveted patio makes for a lovely evening. Their Knots are sooo tasty. Oh, and the Hawaiian Shrimp are like I am in the islands."

Bonn Lair

★★★★☆ 4 (341) • $$

"We came to BonnLair celebrating the end of a long week. Had a couple pints and tried the Shepard's pie. One full serving was perfect for two and accompanied a couple beers perfectly. BonnLair is always a great place to have a relaxing evening."

Pain Killers Pub & Grub

★★★★☆ 4.1 (52)

"We love to come here for the trivia and fight nights. They have themed trivia which makes it fun to engage and feel like you actually know stuff! The owner and staff are always super friendly. They have a good beer selection for my friends. I don't drink alcohol but the steak sandwich and the redneck sooshi are DELISH. I love how it's so close to my house in Rocklin.Add karaoke next!"

The Monk's Cellar

★★★★☆ 4.1 • $$

"TL;DR very good, could be better, but you won't complain about your food.Another place that had been on my list of places to try that happened to fall into place this past weekend.The wife wanted to see this long black hard engine names Big Boy in DT Roseville so off we went. We came hungry so went for it.....Menage Tois or whatever 3 onion burger thing, fish & chips, and the French dip.We also got 4 different beers.I don't know if we've been fein'in for beer but I haven't had this good of a beer experience in a long time. I think the last time was Moksa when every beer I tried was great.We got the Broken Pieces (Pils), Rooted With (Belgian Blonde), Lidsla Moucha (Amber), and the Heavy Robes (Barleywine)...all were great.I was most excited to try their burgers as there is a local celebrity in the Roseville area named Bobby who is like some sort of Burger phenom and this place is his favorite....I gotta say, as far as the burger itself (the meat) it was probably one of the best I've had in my life. It was actually worth the hype. The type of burger I got was forgettable....the onion wasn't really oniony and the kitchen failed to spread the horseradish correctly so the middle was all horseradish and the edges had none....but the burger itself was awesome.Seeing as how we just had the fish and chips from The Boxing Donkey, in comparison this one is worse.The fish was super buttery, but significantly smaller in portion. It probably wouldn't fill you up, but ok none the less. My wife liked the tartar sauce.The French Dip was pretty tasty. The ju was good and actually had flavor instead of just tasting like salty brown water.My wife enjoyed the French Dip mostly plain without dipping into the ju so that should tell you something.Overall the food was pretty good, I feel like the portions could be better....I actually thought we would end up with leftovers but our fat asses ate all three of the entrees.The fries were forgettable, duck fat or not and service could have been a bit better, but it was a busy day so I'm not going to complain too much about it.Overall good experience and would come back again"